“A bus trip? Whose crazy idea was this?”

We wish we could claim to be the first people to hire a bus for a remarkable journey. But we’re not. Ever since 1824 when riders traveled on the first public bus route from Manchester to Salford in the U.K., a bus trip has often meant more than just changing locations. In life, history, literature, and movies, bus rides serve as new beginnings, rites of passage, symbols of courage, and acts of defiance.

At WTIA, we don’t believe our FullConTech 2 ½-hour bus trip to Leavenworth comes even close to having the impact, daring, and importance of great bus rides, like those of the 1961 Freedom Riders. But as we make plans for our September 26 field trip that begins with a diverse group of people boarding two Starline Luxury Coaches, we do so with respect, awareness, and reverence for the amazing bus journeys that have come before ours. We also take inspiration from them.

Getting on a bus can be brave, intrepid, adventurous, or just plain fun. Here are some of the most memorable bus rides from the past 70 years:

• Rosa Parks on the Montgomery city bus: On December 1, 1955, Ms. Parks, an NAACP member, refused to give up her bus seat to a white man. Her arrest inspired Martin Luther King, Jr. to lead the Montgomery, AL bus boycott. Less than a year later, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision that segregation was unconstitutional.
• Freedom Riders traveling south: In May 1961, 13 black and white students rode Greyhound and Trailways buses to New Orleans in interracial groups to challenge the unconstitutional but persistent Jim Crow segregation laws. The students were attacked and beaten, but they inspired hundreds of other protest riders, as well as boycotts and sit-ins.

Literary bus rides:

• Bus tripping around America in On the Road (1957): Jack Kerouac’s main character, Sal Paradise, travels by bus to Denver, Detroit, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York, “looking for god.” When the book was first released, the New York Times called it, “the most important utterance yet made by the [‘beat’] generation.”  
• Riding the psychedelic school bus in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968): Tom Wolfe’s book recounted the 1964 LSD-fueled adventures of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, who drove from California to New York in a stripped-down bus named Further.
• Touring the digestive system on The Magic School Bus (1986-2010 series): Scholastic’s award-winning series by Joanna Cole features elementary school teacher Ms. Frizzle who takes her class on “extraordinary field trips.” Destinations include the solar system, ocean floor, and Jurassic period.

Movie bus rides:

• Bus ride ending in The Graduate (1961): After Benjamin and Elaine take their seats in the back of a yellow bus, their grins fade to uncertainty, and the film ends with Simon and Garfunkel singing “The Sounds of Silence.”
• 50 mph bus ride in Speed (1994): Car chases, explosions, and a ticking bomb – all packed into the #33 city bus headed from Santa Monica to Downtown Los Angeles.
• Cross-country road trip in Get on the Bus (1996): A group of African American men take the Spotted Owl charter bus from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. for the Million Man March.
• Tour bus singalong in Almost Famous (2000): As Stillwater’s bus cruises past corn fields, Elton John’s Tiny Dancer comes on the radio, and everyone sings along.

Even with the rise of planes, trains, and automobiles, the bus remains a vital way for people to hit the road together. Rock bands, sightseers, activists, and road trippers continue to board buses and set off on adventures. It seems to be something, though, that you do less and less often the older you get. When a chance to take a bus trip comes along, grab it!

We won’t guarantee that the FullConTech Starline Coach to Leavenworth will ever be included on a list of most memorable bus rides. But we do know it’ll be a road trip you’ll remember. You’ll play fun get-to-know-you games, eat delicious snacks, meet interesting people you wouldn’t meet anywhere else, and (if you want) watch an acclaimed documentary. We might even throw in a Tiny Dancer singalong.

Don’t forget: We’re heading to Leavenworth to take action. So, yes, this bus trip will make a difference.

As David Mitchell wrote in Cloud Atlas, “There ain’t no journey what don’t change you some.” Any time people travel together, the world is somehow altered.

Get on the FullConTech bus with us on September 26. That’s where the action starts. Register here: